Drunken Dreams and other classic shojo stories…

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio (Fantagraphics, 2010)

Classics… what is the age or what is the quality that is considered to be a classic? I heard that Fushigi Yuugi is considered a classic in an anime.. yet I also heard Battle Royale is considered to be a classic title, despite of it only coming out in this past decade. Now with all my talk about classics.. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories is most definitely a collective work of classic shojo titles. When I saw this at my library, I definitely grabbed it up.. this is a book mentioned by Deb Aoki as being the Best New Manga of 2010. Of course new is a subjective term, new is for the English readers who picks up this book to read.

The mangaka herself is considered to be part of the Magnificent 49’s, a term coined for a group of mangaka that have definitely revolutionized the trend of shojo and josei manga. This is very much like how Kikuko Inoue had playfully called herself as part of a Forever 17 group back at Otakon.

This book is considered to be a sample of her continuing work, and there is an insightful interview that is from the back of the book. Many of the stories in this book are well thought out. There are themes of coming of age, life/death, and definitely issues that females and males would find of interest. Stories that definitely stood out for me in this book are Bianca, Hanshin: Half God, Angel Mimic, and Iguana Girl. If you do get a chance to read this book, then what would be the stories that stand out for you?

Expression priceless as she strips..

Author: Linda

Linda is a life long fan of anime, and dabbles in a lot of things. She writes with a tentative neutral voice.. and as for that three year anime blogging mark, she tries to defy that as she is gaining a voice in other mediums ie: Twitter. Find her at other places online. "They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." -Terry Pratchett

2 thoughts on “Drunken Dreams and other classic shojo stories…

Comments are closed.